Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2017 Menswear Review

     Demna Gvasalia was digging through the Balenciaga archives when he found the thing that first inspired this first menswear runway presentation for the brand. It was an unfinished jacket made by Cristbál Balenciaga himself, missing a sleeve. The finished jacket was seen on the first look, a new chapter for the house of Balenciaga. It dwarfed the model, and was such a massive square proportion you instantly knew that it was both dated, but also something very forward for fashion overall. Massive boxy jackets matched with fitted shorts and knee high leather heeled boots. This was the general silhouette until the suits suddenly shrunk and caved in to the torso and the shorts became shrunken trousers. The contrasting oversized jackets and shrunken suits translated into much more casual military jackets, with "BALENCIAGA" baseball caps and giant yellow and blue leather bags, like those used at IKEA. How people actually wear clothes in the streets. Ecclesiastical lace then began to peak out from under coats like aprons, and began a theme of priesthood in all black and swirling embroidery on scarfs like priest stoles and buttoned up black jackets like uniforms. Ministerial purple embroidery on a vest so shrunken it appeared like a corset on one model and a red variant hit the ecclesiastical theme home. Demna Gvasalia has truly changed Balenciaga already with this first menswear runway in the brand's history, and challenged menswear and what men actually wear in a luxury way.

Comme Des Garçons Homme Plus Spring/Summer 2017 Menswear Review

     "The King Is Naked" was sketched onto the back of a latex like clear cape in the closing look of the Comme Des Garçons Homme Plus collection by Rei Kawakubo, legendary designer known for her anonymity and avant garde creations for the Comme Des Garcons brand. The motif, for this collection, was mysteriously too easy to dissect. Usually Comme collections are an enigma, nearly impossible to understand and always make the viewer question what they are seeing. This collection, however, was all about Han's Christian Anderson's "The Emperor's New Clothes", a nearly 200 year old fairytale describing human nature in regards to power, influence, vanity, and the power of the swindler. The fable is short, nearly 1500 words when translated into English, telling of a vain king who lived for clothes, and poured his power, influence, and money into his garments. A few swindlers who falsely portrayed themselves as incredible weavers, who's clothes were so fine and fantastic that they were light as air, and only the noble and truthful people could see the full beauty. These swindlers managed to gain the king's ransom to produce attire for him to walk in for a parade, and they pretended to weave and sew garments that weren't actually there at all, all the while the noblemen were too afraid to say anything, because they themselves thought that perhaps they weren't noble enough to see the clothes. The king couldn't see the clothes either, but refused to expose his inner thoughts for a fear that his subjects would see him as unfit for the position as king. He dresses in nothing, and shows off in a parade where every single member of his ruling couldn't see the clothes, but pretended to see it, in fear. It takes one innocent child to say the truth: "But he isn't wearing anything!" Instantly he is dismissed, but the townspeople begin to realize the truth, and the king does as well, but carries on with the parade in spite. All of this may seem like a silly story, but there is a much deeper meaning about ignorance, fear, and fashion. Rei Kawakubo with her men's collection must be making a statement about the current state of the fashion industry. Currently luxury houses have found it interesting to make clothes that cost thousands of dollars look disheveled, with rips and tears for the sake of fashion. It is shallow, and fashion should be taken to deeper and more thought provoking extremes, in my opinion. The PVC clothes were all nearly invisible, with floating buttons and stitches. This motif paired with the brand's signature black created an edginess I live for in fashion. There was also a lot of collaboration in this collection, with Nike shoes and art company Forasetti's signature prints worked into suits, like the gazing eyes of the townspeople looking at the king in the fairytale. This aspect of the fairytale brings up a very interesting point: powerful people are vulnerable because they are exposed to the public eye. There was venerability in the story, with the king, the perfect example of poshness and control to the townspeople being taken a fool and exposing himself, just as the models in the fashion show had their boxer briefs exposed underneath the transparent clothes. Another aspect of the physical clothes, were the slogans, "The King is Naked", " Beauty is in the eye" "It's my fashion", just to name some. Never have I ever seen a Comme Des Garcons Homme Plus shown with these explicit slogans. These slogans almost make it too east to interpret this fashion show, which raises suspicion. Is there more to this collection behind the easy interpretation?

Wales Bonner Spring/Summer 2017 Menswear Review

     Rising star Grace Wales Bonner has crafted yet another collection that brings to mind African men's culture and history, as well as masculine sexuality and identity. Cut from mostly pure whites and uniform blacks with little added color for effect, these clothes shape around the male body in a different way that I think has ever been seen in tailoring. The shapes of the clothes themselves spark interest because they are rather gender defying. The pants are not straight legged pants, but could be interpreted as a skirts, if one doesn't look too closely. Twists in shirting across the chest like sashes intrigues, with a sense of regalness to simple men's shirting, particularly Western men's shirting. Embroideries like African crochet techniques bring a personal touch and meaning to Bonner's styling.  It is interesting to see African culture inspiring a grand fashion collection that is honest and from the heart, rather than something superficial and exploitative. This is because Grace Wales Bonner herself was born of a Jamaican father and English mother. Her paternal grandfather  was a tailor, someone who would be making the traditional African celebratory garments that were always custom to what the customer wanted. There was no fast fashion in those days and certainly not in that culture, as we see increasingly today. Therefore, everything was made to last, and to fit perfectly to the specifications of the buyer. This must've had an influence on Grace, who's unique yet highly dignified menswear offerings stand out from the highly manufactured and ill-fitted clothes the world is currently becoming covered in. Grace is a fantastic new designer who's emerging talents should be heard around the world, and is potentially a game changing designer for offering clothes that are so incredibly authentic. 

Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2016 Review

      Lurking in coat check rooms, this recently released Balenciaga collection was something edgy, fantastic, and new with original color palates and classic silhouettes on new technical materials. At first within this look book, you see a neon yellow dress and knit hat mixed with black leather stiletto boots and a black and white lettered stole in the likeliness of the "Balenciaga" label sewn into the clothes. It is status draped right around the shoulders. Fantastic hybrids of space aged fashion of the 1960s mixed with modern eclecticism and rounded "cocoon" silhouettes Cristobal Balenciaga was made famous for made up this collection. Designed in between the departure of old creative director Alexander Wang and the arrival of new creative director Demna Gvasalia from Vetements, according to the press release. For a house full of history, Balenciaga manages to create interesting and modern imagery for a culture submerged in instant stimulation and increased public interest in fashion thanks to the internet. I believe that Demna Gvasalia did have something to do with this collection, in fact, rather than it just being the overall House of Balenciaga creating something in between creative directors. Hints at Gvasalia's handiwork can be seen the styling and shapes of the hoodies, suiting, and floral dresses that were similar in production of what was shown in the Fall 2016 show, the first in which Gvasalia has been in direct control of. The actual photography of this look book was artful and raw. Slightly blurry and some images having cut off images underneath them, as if it was all a film reel that's being cut and chosen haphazardly. The looks themselves, are not at all haphazard. They are perfectly stylized, and even though Demna Gvasalia's participation is subject to speculation and question, a good look towards the future of Balenciaga.

Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2017 Menswear Review

     Alexander McQueen opted out of a runway show for the house's men’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection. Instead of the problem of having too strong of a theme and simple references like the last Spring/Summer collection the year before, this collection showed multiple different motifs. There was an element of India exoticism in embroidery and structure of some of the fantastic overcoats. Images and prints of the safari like zebra and leopard pelts and cave drawings on entire suits and soft jackets display a theme of humid climates and the ecosystem of Africa throughout. An interesting interpretation of leopard print which covered suits layered onto models who were standing on top of a leopard pelt in the set gave a twisted sense of animal hunters of the past, those rich aristocrats who boasted about their killings in the safari. The more exotic, the better, as they saw. Separate, but still relevant in theme, Darwinism was a key word used to describe last fall’s menswear collection, and I think of it this time around too, interestingly enough. Perhaps it’s the leopard, or the note-like diagrams of tigers with handwriting and postage stamps. It sort of ties everything together, this sort of talismans collected by Englishmen of the past from the East and Africa. The word "talisman" was used in describing the jewelry of the fall men's collection as well. The large crystal earrings and mouth piercings adorned by almost every model are menacing and mesmerizing, to say the least. It is fantastic that the jewelry is beautiful and delicate, but also hard with sinister undertones. But then again that’s always been the spirit of McQueen. Delicacy and darkness, but strong. McQueen menswear itself offers modernity, not just stuff old suits that look tired and too historic. The footwear, interestingly, contrasts with the embroidered frock coats and celebration suiting because they are classically shaped sneakers. These sneakers add an pleasing sense of ease to the collection, something that wakes up a collection that some may consider too formal. I liked that this collection was a softer and lighter version of the last menswear collection, because that particular collection was a turning point for McQueen menswear. In this collection, there is the similar contradicting historical yet modern tailoring, but in breathable materials with leg room and some of the arms cut off. McQueen menswear is stating its codes during a time in fashion where everything seems to be changing and the idea of luxury fashion seems to be uncertain to many of its critics and commentators. In fact, McQueen menswear seems stronger than the  overtly commercial and almost superficial womenswear. Hopefully, we see as much care and creativity in womenswear in the future of McQueen as in menswear, but we shall see. McQueen menswear this season inspires and creates a moody world partially separate from the boring reality of today.